Joyce

Personal recording of my poem – From A Register of Sick Calls – attended to by the Clergy in July and August, 1922 during the Siege of Waterford -on the Poetry as Commemoration website.

From a Register of Sick Calls – attended to by the Clergy in July and August, 1922 during the Siege of Waterford by Joyce Butler

Above is the link to a personal recording of my poem, From a Register of Sick Calls – attended to by the Clergy in July and August, 1922 during the Siege of Waterford – which was accepted by Poetry As Commemoration for their Dublin City Centre Poetry Jukebox which is currently installed at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin until April this year. This poem was created during my attendance at the Poetry as Commemoration Workshops held in Waterford City Library in November, 2022.

The poem is about some local Waterford people who were shot during the Siege of Waterford, some of whom died and others recovered from their injuries –

John Doyle from Roches Street, Waterford was shot in the Post Office. He died from his injuries on the 7th of August.

Mary Ann Gaffney – from Upper Grange was accidently shot by her neighour, James Flynn. He had found a gun stashed in his hay shed by armed men. She died from her injuries.

Patrick O’Grady was shot in Kilmachthomas, a bullet lodged in his spine. He recovered from his injuries.

Joyce

After twelve years, holding the proof of the paperback edition of my debut WW2 historical fiction novel, Love Will Have It’s Way, in my hands was an incredible feeling.

Joyce

My poem ‘From a Register of Sick Calls – attended to by the Clergy in July and August, 1922, during the Siege of Waterford’ – included on the Poetry as Commemoration Poetry Jukebox for Dublin City Centre.

I’m delighted to share news that my poem ‘From a Register of Sick Calls – attended to by the Clergy in July and August, 1922, during the Siege of Waterford’ has been included on the Poetry as Commemoration Poetry Jukebox for Dublin City Centre along with some incredible Irish poets like Paul Muldoon, Martina Evans, Sean Hewitt, Stephen Sexton and Victoria Kennifick amongst others. The poem was written during two Poetry as Commemoration Workshops that took place in Central Library, Waterford in November 2022. The poem is about some local Waterford people who were shot during the Siege of Waterford which took place during the Irish Civil War in July and August, 1922. Ann-Marie Gaffney from Upper Grange, John Doyle from Roches Street, and Patrick O’Grady from Kilmacthomas. Thankfully most of them survived their injuries. My inspiration for the poem came from examining the Priests Visits Book, which recorded the visits by a local priest, to those who were shot and recovering in the County Infirmary on John’s Hill, Waterford.

Joyce

Darkness over Ireland – Irish Times, Monday 4th September, 1939.

The day after Britain declared war on Germany, the people of Ireland were dealing with the ‘blackout’ ie, after dark, minimising the amount of light that could be seen from houses, businesses and traffic in order to conceal it from warplanes that might be flying overhead.

The following is an excerpt from Love Will Have Its Way, where the main character, Violet, experiences the Waterford blackout first hand when she goes for a walk near her grandparents house in the city centre:

‘The people of Waterford were definitely respecting the blackout. Not a light was to be seen anywhere….She kept to the right side of the path, as was requested in the local papers. But not everyone was obeying this rule. Another shadow met her as she approached one of the public houses on John Street. It was more of a stumbling, singing shadow, walking in the middle of the road, obviously quite drunk. Violet felt the dark form sway towards her as she passed on the quiet street. Then it faded away as quickly as it had appeared.’

Buy my book on Amazon here: https://bit.ly/LoveWillHaveItsWay